Where The Living Room Used To Be

On this special edition episode, I caught up with Jesse The Tree to talk about his new album "Pigeon Man" which is coming out Friday, August 19th on Strange Famous Records . In our conversation, we cover what it was like for him to collaborate with Mopes on this project, the inspiration behind some of the songs you'll hear, what was different about the process of recording Pigeon Man, and some of...

For this mini-episode Chance Haki takes a deep dive into African vinyl and the influence of African music on the world. Plus, Chance shares some of his favorite places to host events and his love of a particular pizza shop (not just because of the food). Unfortunately, I couldn't get him to tell me his secret beach spot but we do reminisce on the brilliance of Benny's.  At the end of the episode,...

On this episode, Chance Haki shares examples from his family that inspires him to persevere. Plus, you'll hear his perspective on how an organization can grow and the steps he's taking to further build Providence World Music. At the end, you'll Steven Sogo play a song on the ikembe during his performance at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on May 28th, 2022 // Interview recorded June 20th, 2022 a...

For this episode, I caught up with Chance Haki, the director of Providence World Music . Since starting this project a few years back Chance has done a tremendous amount of work to highlight and promote traditional and indigenous music. In our conversation, we learn more about their mission and what they want to achieve, plus the numerous shows and styles of music they promote around Rhode Island....

Drummer, vocalist, and art space owner Matt O'Brien, shares his favorite and his not-favorite things about Rhode Island. At the end of the episode, I've included one of my favorite songs from passionplay 's self-titled debut . The song is "My Odyssey" and I hope you enjoy it!   // Interview recorded July 4th, 2022 at Focal in Pawtucket, RI // Intro music by  Cedros // Hosted by James Toomey // ///...

On this mini-episode, Matt O'Brien passes along some tips on his drum technique. He also discusses how his endorsement with SJC Custom Drums came about and shares his experience with regard to the therapeutic value of playing music. And, as you'll hear Matt talk about in this episode... he likes to pull from various styles of music with the songs he writes. From listening to his catalog, I think a...

On this episode, I sat down with musician and co-founder of Focal , Matt O'Brien. I had a lot of fun talking with him and we covered a lot during our conversation including the interesting way he got his first drumset, the numerous bands he's played in, and what went into starting the art gallery Focal as well as what they are looking to achieve with this space. Plus, one of Matt's bands, passionp...

Venue director and musician, Russ Gusetti, shares some of his favorite things in Rhode Island, how he started playing concertina, and then takes us back through a bit of the history of Providence's Irish Session over the decades! At the end of the episode, you'll hear the lead track from Pendragon's Live At Blackstone River Theatre album "Brogan's / The Silver Spear".  // Interview recorded May 31...

On this mini-episode, Russell Gusetti provides some of the most practical advice a musician can do to get attention, as well as what not to do... and a lot of the reasons why he continues to do what does with regard to shows. Don't forget to head over to Diamond Hill Park in Cumberland, Rhode Island for the 10th Annual Summer Solstice Festival this Saturday, June 18th! More info is available at ri...

For this episode, I catch up with the executive director of Blackstone River Theatre , Russ Gusetti. In our conversation we talk about his unfortunate introduction to playing guitar that ended up being an overall benefit in his life, we also discuss how his small theatre came together and got to be known all around the world, what it was like being in the band Pendragon for 34 years, and of course...

Five shares some of his favorite things from Rhode Island... including a couple of cool beach spots, a nostalgic pizza place and where to get it these days, and a century-old tradition that happens each summer in Cranston! At the end of the episode check out a couple of Five's favorite tracks from his new project, Long Time Coming Volume 1 ! Enjoy "R.E.S.P.E.C.T feat. Wardo" followed by "Lace Em U...

On this mini-episode, Five passes along a holistic view to music, what believing in yourself really means as an artist, and one of the core reasons he continues to push himself to create. At the end of the episode, you'll hear a posse track Five did entitled "Summer Freestyle" that was produced by 8th Wundah and features Raise, the late Hammer Beanz, and Milez Grimez. // Interview recorded May 16t...

On this episode, I speak with hip hop artist, Five , where he shares what goes into his complex writing process, the experiences he's had winning several bars challenges, working with many other great artists from Rhode Island, and what he's looking to achieve with the release of his latest project, " Long Time Coming Volume 1 " Interlude song order: "I'm Back" Five's verse from "The Story of Jaco...

Christian Caldarone shares his experience record shopping on Thayer St., tells the story of a chance encounter with Buddy Cianci, and passes along creative ways to catch a show.    The end of the episode features one of my favorite Steadystate songs "Two Moons So Low In The Sky"   // Interview recorded March 17th, 2022 at Christian's home in Lincoln, RI // Intro music by Cedros // Hosted by James...

In this mini-episode, Christian Caldarone shares his perspective of success, the level of love he has for the Rhode Island music community, and the ways he gets through writer's block. Plus, you can find out why I included "Figure 8" from High Planes' new album Ghost Town at the end of the episode.  // Interview recorded March 17th, 2022 at Christian's home in Lincoln, RI // Intro music by  Cedros...

I recently sat down with my friend and bandmate, Christian Caldarone, to talk about his 30+ years as an active musician, his experience working as a soundperson at The Met and The Century Lounge back in the day, what it was like starting LibertyFest, and how a young kid on Smith Hill may have helped influence a line of Eastman Guitars . We also take a deeper look at our band High Planes new album...

On this episode, Mopes shares the spots he's gone digging for records over the years, the beauty of Rhode Island party pizza, and I introduce to him the rivalry between Del's Lemonade and Mr. Lemon!  At the end of the episode I've included his song "One Vs. Many" from one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time, DNGRFLD   // Interview recorded February 28th, 2022 via Zoom // Intro music by Cedro...

On this episode you'll hear Mopes pass along some advice on how to be a better performer, why he thinks there's a need for experimentation with your own sound, and what his creative process is with writing lyrics and beat making! One of the songs Mopes references with regard to this is "A Parting Gift" from his latest album " Unwound "... and you'll hear this at the end of the episode. strangefamo...

In this episode, I sit down with one of my favorite rappers, Mopes ... who some of you may know from his previous name Prolyphic . Through our conversation we get into the reason why he started making beats, the concepts behind his albums, and how growing up in a working middle-class family influenced his lyrics. We also get a little deeper into the breaks he's taken from music and his recent rein...

My wife and I (James) recently had our 3rd child and while we were in the hospital we played UNO to help pass some time. From that, it made me think about a previously unreleased piece from the conversation I had with Lewis Morris back in Oct of 2020 and how we took a bit of a tangent talking about this card game. In this mini-episode, you'll learn more about why we did that and why UNO means so m...

Ben Shaw and I talk about his favorite things in Rhode Island... and we get even more hyper-local on this episode as Ben shares what all 37.8 square miles of Aquidneck Island has to offer from his view. We cover past record stores, where he hung out to eat pizza, and the music festivals that mean so much to him! And, tune in to hear Mr. Shaw break the code on RI's best drink!!!  I ended the episod...

On this mini-episode Ben Shaw shares his thoughts about practice routines, as well as building confidence, trusting your taste and persevering as a musician!  At the end of the episode, you'll hear Ben's song "Somewhere in Rhode Island" that he performed live at AS220 on December 2nd, 2021. I highly recommend you visit their YouTube channel - TV220 - for almost 100 live stream performances from Rh...

During my interview with Ben Shaw we took a bit of a detour and started to talk more deeply about mental health as musicians. As you'll hear, both he and I have had to work on our mental state and seek outside help. This is a very important issue in the arts community so I wanted to pull this out from our full conversation to give it more attention and reach people about this specific issue. If yo...

On this episode, I welcome multi-instrumentalist, Ben Shaw . Not only does Ben play several instruments he also writes and performs many different styles of music - from folk and jazz to classical and hip hop. In our conversation we cover his journey of being musician that was barely accepted into the band at his middle school to becoming a nominated composer in international classical music compe...

I connect with Sage Francis to talk about his label - Strange Famous Records - and releasing music over the last 25 years, what local radio stations meant for his career, how giving it all as an artist can take its toll both mentally and physically, and some of the exciting things he's working toward in the near future.    If you enjoy the episode please check out some previous interviews I've don...